


A Different Path

by Loraliah



Category: Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 5 - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, This is just starting so nothing established yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 23:12:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18434084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loraliah/pseuds/Loraliah
Summary: Alternate universe fic; kind of slow burn, will add more as I add chapters.





	1. Chapter 1

***

The office had been dull and quiet for several weeks now. Not many jobs seemed to be coming in, and the ones that did took all of five minutes to take care of. Granted she had only been working officially for about a year now with the legendary Demon Hunter; but at least those first few months were rather exciting compared to now.

Especially compared to this exact moment, when the lights in the building suddenly turned off.

She stared up at the ceiling for a moment, gave an annoyed huff, and left her room to lean over the stairs, calling down to the man she knew was napping bellow at his desk.

“Boss! Hey, Dante!”

She heard his annoyed grumble, and his shifting in his desk chair. “What?”

“Did we really not make enough to pay the light bill again?”

“What do you think, squirt?”

She rolled her eyes, and shuffled down the stairs, the creaking of each step having gotten louder in the now quiet front hall. She pulled up the chair next to his desk, turning it so she could straddle it, setting her arms across it to rest her chin. She frowned at him, noting he was reclining in his chair, boots crossed on the top of his desk, as if he was completely unaffected by the current situation.

Which, honestly, deep down, she knew he was.

“Boss, we gotta do _something_ about the lights, ya know,” she mumbled. “Not even anything from Morrison? He’s gotta have something for us by now.”

He sighed deeply, moving to let his chair set down correctly, throwing the magazine that was covering his face on the desk.

“Kid, you are aware we’ve also been without water for about a week now, right? If Morrison had something, we wouldn’t be dealing with that either.”

The annoyance was heavy in his voice, and it only deepened her frown.

“Call him maybe?”

Dante picked up the receiver of his phone, holding it out to her. She took it, placing it to her ear; no dial tone. Despite being a landline, that usually had access to some phone calls, it had been turned off completely as well.

 _Wonderful_.

She dropped the receiver back on the phone, hanging over the chair, defeated.

Dante chuckled deeply, picking up his magazine once more, and placed it over his face again. “Nothing we can’t handle, kid. So don’t worry.”

“Easy for you to say, old man.”

“Oh ouch, my pride,” he teased, knowing he didn’t have to remove the magazine to see the joking smirk on her face.

She gave another sigh, as she reluctantly returned to her room, opening windows along the way to help at least keep the building cool during the day when the heat settled in. It was going to be a while before they had any kind of relief it seemed.

She prayed that Morrison would show up soon with a job…

***

A knock at the front door brought her head up from the slumped position she was sitting in. Dante was in his usual position, boots crossed on desk with a magazine covering his sleeping face. She stood, heading to answer it, when it opened, and a well dressed man walked in.

“Morrison! Oh thank god, please tell me you have a job for us!”

He removed his hat, bowing towards her slightly. “Well it’s nice to see you too, Miss Liah.”

She smiled apologetically, giving the man a hug. “I’m sorry, Morrison, I’m always happy to see you, you know that. It’s just been literally hell in here lately.”

From behind her, Dante gave a snort. “You’re so dramatic, it hasn’t been that bad.”

“Well of course not for you!” she snapped in return. “You can live without bathing, you gross old man. I, on the other hand, can not. I don’t see how you can live with all that leather sticking to your gross skin like that.”

Dante just simply held out his hand, giving her the middle finger without moving any further.

Morrison gave a deep chuckle as he moved to the couch opposite of Dante’s desk. “Glad to see this mess hasn’t dulled things between you two.”

Liah rolled her eyes, but smiled in good nature at her now long-time friend. Dante, however, shifted in his seat, throwing the magazine across the desk, and set his dark eyes on the man. It was now all business.

“So, what you got for us, Morrison?”

He nodded, getting down to the issue at hand, and took out an envelope from his coat. He held it out for Liah to take from him, and she handed it over to Dante, as she sat back down in her chair, straddling it once more.

“It’s a pretty big gig,” Morrison began, standing to walk up to the desk. “Cash, up front.”

“I like it so far,” Dante remarked, opening the envelope slightly to check it’s contents. “Power and water need turning on, and those toilets need flushing.”

Liah grimaced at his remark; but disgustingly, she knew he was right. She stood up, to pace a bit, looking between the two men as she waited for Morrison to continue.

“The only bad news I have to share is,” he mentioned, placing his hat back on his head, “is that Lady Patty also is seeking you out, Dante. Tonight is her birthday, and she is rather upset she can’t reach you through your phone.”

Patty. Yeah, she heard about her. The look of annoyance splayed on Dante’s face reminded her enough of what he had shared with her.

As if on cue, the lights flickered back on, making the building him back to life, and immediately his phone began ringing. He looked between her and Morrison, picking up the receiver and placing it to his ear.

“Devil May Cry-”

“ _Dante, Dante! It’s me, Patty! Do you know how many times I have tried to call you!? Like a zillion!”_

She could hear the girl’s voice loud enough that Dante pulled the receiver away from his ear, holding it to face away from him. She covered her mouth to hold in her laughter, and Morrison just gave him a shrug.

In the middle of the girl’s sentence, he hung up the phone, only for it to immediately start ringing again. With a frustrated sigh, he unplugged the phone line, and faced Morrison with a pointed finger.

“Alright Morrison, I’ll take this gig. But only if you can get me out of this damn birthday party.”

The well dressed man laughed, and gave him a nod. “Consider your RSVP declined.”

“Gee, thanks for considering my input, boss,” Liah quipped; but Dante just smirked at her, leaning back in his chair again.

“You sure don’t strike me as the party type. Plus, you _were_ the one complaining about wanting a shower. Can’t do much without a paycheck, no can we?”

She blew a raspberry at him, earning a deep chuckle as she made to sit at the edge of his desk. “Whatever, old man.”

Morrison laughed at their banter, but brought their attention to the front door, as he moved to invite someone in.

“Meet your new client.”

A tall, thin man dressed in all black and covered from neck to waist in tattoos walked in, taking a spot right by the door to lean against. He had a book open in one hand, and held a sharp cane in the other. He never bothered to look up at them.

Morrison nodded towards them, and made to walk out the door. “I’m going to reach out to Trish and Lady, you’ll both need all the help you can get.”

“What, you think we can’t handle this?” Dante seemed to spit out, opening his arms in an annoyed gesture.

“It’s a really big job, Dante. Really big.”

And with that, he left, letting the heavy doors close behind him.

Dante huffed, giving Liah an annoyed glance, before setting his eyes on the black clad man. She followed suit, feeling a twinge of annoyance at the fact that he still hadn’t even looked up from his book.

“So,” he started, “what’s your name?”

_“I have no name; I am but two days old…”_

Liah furrowed her brow, looking at Dante for a moment. Was this guy really just quoting his book right now?

With a smirk, the man closed his book, finally looking up at them. “Just kidding. You can call me ‘V’.”

It took everything from Dante not to roll his eyes, as he stood to pace around the room while talking to this dramatic man. Liah crossed her arms as she kept her place sitting at the edge of his desk, keeping her emerald eyes trained on the man. Something about him didn’t sit too right with her.

“So, V,” the Hunter began, “tell us about this job you have for us.”

“A demon is about to resurrect, and, we need your help dealing with it Dante. Although,” he paused, his eyes locking on Liah, “I was not aware of another hunter being present.”

She noted his eyes, despite being hidden by his dark bangs, had a light green color to them as they seemed to scan over her. She didn’t take offense to his remark; not many people acknowledged her existence when they visited his office; but the way he looked at her made her skin crawl.

“She’s my side kick, for the most part,” Dante mentioned with a shrug. “Tends to follow me around like a puppy most of the time.”

Her head snapped towards him, a glare darkening her eyes. “Call me a puppy again, and I’ll bite the hell out of you,” she hissed, and he just smirked in return.

She shifted from her spot on the desk, walking towards V, holding out her hand to him. “My name is Liah, since my boss doesn’t have the decency to introduce me properly.”

The man smirked, taking her hand and shook it. “Pleasure to me you, firecracker.”

Her eyes narrowed; oh great, another nickname.

Dante cleared his throat, bringing attention back to the issue at hand.

“So a resurrecting demon, huh? If only I had a dollar for every time I heard that line,” he sighed, plopping down on the couch where Morrison had previously been sitting.

“Well, this one is,” he emphasized with a small flourish of his hand, “special.”

Dante quirked an eyebrow. “Okay. Special. Special how?”

“This demon is your "reason”; your reason for fighting.“

A thickness seemed to settle in the air at V’s words. Liah could see a tenseness take over Dante’s form. He leaned forward, eyes drilling into the dark clad man.

"This demon have a name?”

For a moment, those jade eyes glanced at her, before turning back to Dante. “I’m sure you might have a familiarity with it. But for now, his name is Urizen. The demon king.”

Speaking in riddles. Definitely did not like the way this man was acting. She’d never heard of a demon named Urizen before; but from the look on Dante’s face, maybe he had?

He sighed deeply and stood up. “Fine. We’ll get on this case for you. Meet up here in a few hours, once Trish and Lady get here. We’ll head out together, you leading the way.”

V nodded, picking up his cane and made to leave, but stopped, turning to face Liah once more. He didn’t say anything, just stared at her for a moment, before stepping out the door, and closed it with a loud click.

Dante stepped up next to her, crossing his arms as he looked between her and the door.

“I mean,” he started with a shrug, “he has the same aesthetic as you do.”

She started, turning on him with a flare. “Don’t even, Dante! I’ll punch the shit out of you if you think that guy is interesting to me.”

She had to admit to herself though; he was interesting. But he was too much of a mystery to let her guard down with him.


	2. Chapter 2

***

The air was heavy and hot as they all walked through the entrance of the demon’s ‘lair’, as many may have called it. Dante was leading the pack, Trish and Lady right at his heels, weapons armed and ready for anything. Liah stayed behind a bit, intimidation making her steps slow as she looked around.

“What on Earth is this place?” she breathed, getting dizzy from looking up towards a never ending ceiling.

Behind her, she could hear the clicking of a cane tapping at the ground.

“A tree that grows from the underworld,” he seemed to mumble, as if to himself. “It’s far worse than I imagined.”

Dante snickered and turned towards him, laying his large sword across his shoulder. “Not too late to turn tail and run if it’s too much for ya, V. No one here would blame ya.”

Liah frowned at his tone. She never really liked when he was a smart-ass with their clients, even if she wasn’t the most fond of them either. She turned back to apologize to him, but he was already taking the path back out.

“Perhaps you are right,” he gave, “I suppose I’ll leave the rest to you.”

Above him, a demonic bird flapped it’s wings, squawking in annoyance as it flew along behind him. She couldn’t hear what they were mumbling as they walked off, and she didn’t much care; from the moment that bird appeared from his skin, she sure as all hell didn’t trust it.

And it certainly didn’t help the unease she felt towards V.

She caught up with the other hunters, standing amongst them as they all looked towards where V left through, casting curious glances amongst themselves.

Lady was the first to speak up. “Who even is that guy? Surprised he just ran.”

Liah nodded in agreement, though in the back of her mind, she kind of understood why he left; from just walking along the path with him, she could tell his body was frail, his limping rather apparent the further they got.

Dante shrugged, hefting his sword to settle between his shoulder blades. “No one special,” he sighed, “so let’s just forge ahead now, shall we?”

Trish and Lady skipped on ahead, a playful banter between the two of them on who would kill the most demons before Dante would; but he had stopped, noticing that Liah wasn’t following along behind them.

“Ya coming, squirt?”

She started, eyes opening a bit, when she realized she was still staring after the mysterious man, who had long since disappeared.

She gave her a head quick shake, and nodded towards Dante, running to catch up to him.

Despite the weariness she felt towards the leather-clad man, part of her was concerned, surprisingly, about his well-being.

What had happened to him before this?

***

She’d be lying if she said dealing with these souped up demons was easy. The entire path they had to take was littered with them, and despite having been trained by the Legendary Demon Hunter, it definitely took a toll on her.

Dante, per usual, was having no trouble at all, dusting himself off after their last battle, while she let herself drop on the slimy floor, leaning back on her hands. She didn’t care at this point; her body was exhausted.

“And you call me an old man,” he chided, smirking down at her panting frame.

“Shut. Up,” she huffed, unable to say much else. She hated when he was right.

“Stay and rest a bit,” he said, his tone softening. Despite his constant picking, his concern for her always won. “Catch up when you feel up to it, squirt.”

And with that, he took off, leaving her on her own. She felt the room seem to expand as she sat there, listening to glushing sounds being made within the walls, and the distant sounds of snarlings and wailing. She could feel her hair standing on ends, and the grip on her sword tighten.

“Nope, nope, nope,” she breathed, getting back to her feet, following the path that Dante went. Granted she was tired as all hell; but being on her own like this was far worse.

She really couldn’t handle that at all.

***

Thankfully, the path she had to take had already been cleared; the three previous hunters having no issue doing the clearing up. It wasn’t a hard trek either, especially since she came to a large set of doors soon after, much to her own surprise.

She managed to push them open without much effort; but her entire being froze immediately at the sight strewn out before her.

Trish and Lady, some of the strongest women she had ever met in her life, were laid out on the floor, beaten almost to a pulp. A giant wall of a demon sat in a winding chair in a lake of blood, while Dante was swinging at full force against it.

His screams and grunts echoed in the large room, the loud clanging of his sword drowned out by the blood lake gushing up pillars of the red fluid. The demon simply swung his hand, sending fireballs and beams of light at him without any effort.

She stood there, frozen, as she saw Dante smacked out of the air as if he was just a fly, landing to the ground with a heavy thud. Immediately, she ran towards him, arm extended to reach out for him.

“Dante-”

“No! Liah, get out of here right now!”

He climbed to his feet, lunging at the demon once more. A spiral of red crystals spun at him, making him dodge to the side, his sword stopping it from cleaving him two.

“Get out of here, dammit! Move your ass!”

She tried to form words into a plea, but the air was knocked out of her when a spiked tentacle slammed her in the stomach, sending her flying clear back, landing on her side.

There was no way she didn’t break almost her entire rib-cage.

She spat up blood, holding her middle as the surge of pain ran through her body. Her instinct was to run right back in, save her boss; save her friends.

But…she knew she couldn’t do it alone. Not with the little strength she had.

She got to her feet, and bolted out the door as another tentacle, spike extended, lunged down to try and impale her. Once through the doors, they slammed shut, and all she could hear was the clashing of metal behind her.

She turned and stared at the wall of a door, blood and tears streaming down her face as she sobbed and turned to run back to the entrance of this damned maze.

***

“I still don’t see a reason for me to be here, Dante’s got this in the bag.”

The white-haired young man rubbed his nose along his gloved hand, sighing in annoyance at the mess before him. There was no way they could really need him, he figured; but the black-clad man stepped forward next to him, shaking his head slightly.

“Don’t underestimate that demon. After all,” he tapped the young man with his cane, “he is the one who took your arm, Nero.”

This made him grimace, subconsciously touching at the stump where his arm once was.

V tapped his cane to the ground, a swirl of shadows appearing at his feet, helping him surge forward. “I’m going ahead. Try not to fall too behind.”

Nero just frowned, watching the man disappear down the path before them, and took off himself soon after.

***

A surging cough hit her chest, making her spit up another large amount of blood. Her body felt incredibly weak, everything aching as she kept herself moving.

She couldn’t stop. She couldn’t let them all down.

She had managed to get a bit further, until her head began to feel as if she was underwater. Without realizing, she over-stepped a ledge, and fell a few feet down, hitting the ground hard. The air was knocked out of her once more, and she could no longer move from where she landed.

Her vision began to blur as she tried to look up, a set of red eyes suddenly appearing and staring directly at her. She blinked, hoping that she was imagining it; but the clinking of claws rang in her ears, echoing in her throbbing head.

This was the last thing she was going to see, wasn’t it? The red eyes of a demon who was going to _kill_ her…

Another sound surged around her, and a flash of purple light blinded her, as the demon before her eyes disintegrated into dust.

What replaced it were large, black paws and a set of magenta eyes looking right at her. She felt puffs of hot air hit her face, and a little further away, she heard the flapping of wings and the metallic ring from before.

“Firecracker…what happened to you?"


End file.
